Folding door



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW JORGENSEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. Y

FOLDING DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 537,207, dated April 9, 1 895.

' application ned November 5.1894. sentirte. 527,907. (No modem To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANDREW J'ORGENSEN, a citizen of Denmark, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Doors, of which the following is a specification. g

Many modern houses are constructed with communicating rooms and without any door for cutting off one room from the other, it being the intention that the opening shall be provided with a portire. It is sometimes desirable to close one of these rooms and cut it 0E from the other more elfectually than can be done by a portire, and this is especially so in cold weather, when it is either not possible or not desirable to heat both of them.

The subject of the present invention is a door for closing openings of this character, and the object of the invention is to provide a door of such construction that it may be put in place either at the time the house is built, 0r with equal facility, afterward.

' While the house is being built it is a simple matter to provide a door of ordinary construction, and hence in this class of cases a door constructed in accordance with the present invention has not so many advantages as it has when applied to houses already completed. When the house is completed, to remodel or construct the doorway to lit it to receive an ordinary door involves labor, difculty, 'dirt and lmany more objectionable features, and hence, the principal object of the present invention is to provide a door of such construction that it can be easily applied without the necessity for making any alterations in the facings or jambs. It may be easily applied to any upright object or surface lor removed therefrom.

To these ends the invention consists in the features of novelty that are particularly pointed out in the claims, and in order that it mayi be fully understood I will describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof, and in which- Figures 1 and 2 are vertical sections of a door embodying the invention, Fig. l showing it open, and Fig. 2 showing it closed. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section thereof on the line 3--3, Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a detail View of the device for attaching the door to its support.

Theimproved dooris constructed of any desired number of'uprights A, the number used depending upon the size of the door, lazy-tong levers B pivoted to all of said uprights so as to connect them, and a covering C of fabric or other'suitable Iiexible material secured to said uprights for concealing them-or alll of them excepting the outerone-andthe levers. The uprights areprovided with vertical slots ct that are occupied by the levers, thus avoiding the irregularities that would certainly exist in the surface of the completed door if the levers were placed against the outer faces of the uprights. The Outer upright may if desired be of ornamental'shape and provided with whatever trimmings or fixtures may be found desirable or necessary, this ,being a matter that must be left to the builder or user to be determined according to the exigencies of particular cases. The inner upright is provided with means for securing it to the facing or oth er object by 'which it is to be supported.

In the drawings I have shown two latches D that are pivoted centrally to the upright, and adapted to be turned so as to move them either into or out of engagement with hooks E, that are secured to the support. A pair of these hooks are used in connection with each latch, and they are presented in opposite directions in order that the latch may be brought to engagement with them by a rotary movement. This, however, is only an example of the means that may be used for securing the door in place, and I desire to have it understood that my invention is not limited in this respect, but covers any means foraccomplishing it, albeit I ,prefer means of such character that the door may be easily put up and taken down.

Preferably each of the uprights, excepting the inner one, is provided at bottom with a roller or rollers F, and if desired the outer upright Vmay have a roller G at top for steadying it.

In the drawings I have shown two sets of lazy-tong levers (but this is merely illustrative) and in order to make both sets move in unison, to the end that the uprights shall be maintained in uprightpositions, and confined IOO to parallel movement, I provide each of said sets of levers with an extended arm I-I, both of which arms are pivotally connected at their ends to a bar I, which is secured to one of the uprights in such a manner that it may slide vertically but cannot move laterally, independently of said upright. As shown the bar has longitudinal slots i through which pass pins t" that are supported bythe upright,the latter being provided with a groove in which the bar fits.

Vhat I claim as new is- 1. In a door the combination of a plurality of uprights, means for securing one of said uprights to a support, plural sets of lazy-tong levers each of said sets of levers having a direct pivotal connection with each of said uprights, means connecting said sets of levers uprights and permitting' its vertical, while 3o restraining its lateral, movement relatively thereto.

ANDREW JORGENSEN. IVitnesses:

L. M. HOPKINS, J. IIALPENNY. 

